Sophia

I wasn't able to get the cardinal /barn swallow images printed in time, so I chose this Pine Grosbeak by  John Alexander Kay from an old Audubon Photography Award image on a calendar (great references). I did the painting in watercolor not acrylic (except for the the white on the wings and face) using a standard synthetic No 6 round watercolor brush and an inexpensive Lowe Cornell set of 12 paints. The paper was 6" x 8" Strathmore 80lb drawing paper. To help me draw the bird I used a #15 GridArt Image Guide on the photo,  which is a transparent overlay of 1" square boxes. Then I drew pencil dots on the corresponding corners of the boxes on my drawing paper as a guide for my drawing. I didn't erase the dots (oops! forgot) so you can see the dots on the painting still behind the bird's head. I didn't use Saral/transfer paper to transfer my drawing. I just drew directly on the final paper, then I traced the photo on tracing paper and overlaid it on my drawing to see where the drawing needed adjustments. I've painted birds before, but never did formal course on bird painting. Jane showed me a lot of new (to me) avian drawing and painting techniques that definitely improved my work. I look forward to trying and applying more of those techniques in future and experimenting with water new brushes and acrylics when I do future birds. Thank you, Jane!

I'm a bit unclear on why we should learn to draw the bird if we are using tracing paper to transfer the image to the final paper for painting. Might as well just trace from the photo. I think learning to draw the bird and know all the parts is a good thing. It's just if we're tracing, might as well use the most accurate image possible, the photo.

Beautiful work on color mixing and matching!~

It should be about 3 eyeballs, from the top of the eyeball to the top of the crown going straight up, round the crown and then adjust the angle of crest up. That should help.